Dollhouse: A Spy in the House of Love

“Don’t be so Vanilla!”

I can’t remember the last “episode of the week”. Stuff keeps happening. Dollhouse won’t stay still. I’m excited out of my pants! SOoOoOoO much happens in this episode. We discover that Dominic is a naughty boy and deserves to be hit with Echo’s bullwhip. Although, I must confess, DeWitt’s actual punishment for him seems rather on the horrible side. So that’s what the attic is for!

DeWitt, of course, has herself been rather naughty. She’s been using Victor for her own pleasure, which throws a rather different and rather fascinating light on her character. DeWitt may be cold for much of the time, but she’s human. She has desires, she has values, and she seems to be very lonely, as those at the top so often are.

The structure of this episode, in which we see events from different perspectives and numerous sequences are shown more than once, is extremely clever. The fact that this is a whodunit makes is suspiciously likely that Rashomon is an influence. Intriguingly, our sleuth is none other than Echo herself! Even more intriguingly, she volunteers to be programmed, knowing exactly what Topher’s equipment is going to do to her! The episode ends with DeWitt holding her in awe. Echo is clearly no ordinary active. Is this really sustainable?

The tale of Ballard also gets much hugeness in this episode, as November/Mellie suddenly changes program and tells him that she is an undercover active sent to spy on him, and has been for months! What is Ballard going to do with this information? To be continued, I’m sure.

The episode ends with a fascinating exchange between Dominic and Echo. He’s about to be erased, but one last thing amuses him. “One day,” he says, “you’ll be erasing them.” Boyd Langton replaces Dominic, and Echo has a new handler. I wonder what he’s like?